Warning: Man-eating reptile on the loose

tegu gonna get you
Originally uploaded by NataPics

Police at Saint-Baudille-la-Tour (38-Isère) have told locals to be on the lookout for a flesh-eating reptile, usually more at home in South America, photographed this week by a passing motorist who got more than he bargained for during a brief pit-stop in the area.

Contrary to how he appears in this photograph, the Tegu is not your ideal companion for a swift apéritif after a hard day's work. The metre-long cross between a snake, a crocodile and a lizard could give you a nasty bite, hence the vigilance demanded by the gendarmes.

It appears that the animal did not arrive via airports using a cunning disguise and a false passport - more likely it's former owners were keeping it in illegally unsafe conditions, and realised it into the wild to avoid the long arm of the law.